Happily Ever After
by Cyath
Summary: The long war is over. In a world without Angels or Evangelions, what will the pilots of NERV do with their lives?


The day breaks on Neo Tokyo-3. Clouds part and the sun shines down. It is a day like any other.

They shift together in wakefulness, two bodies entwined. Purple on black, young and old, female and male in a dance older than time itself.

"Shin-chan, it's your turn to cook breakfast."

A complaint rises from the blankets. "But Misato-san, it's always my turn."

"Don't complain, it's my house you're staying in. Not to mention me you're sleeping with."

Grumbling, the boy does as he is told. Truth be told he doesn't really mind. He likes cooking, and loves her even more than that. He just grumbles so that she won't think she can get away with everything - which she already does.

While breakfast is being prepared, Misato gets up. She doesn't rush - there's no need to hurry anywhere. If she wasn't going to be late for work today she would normally take the time to tease him a bit, maybe show a little skin, but she is modest for once. After all, there's no need to really do that if he's already hers.

They eat and leave. School is only a while away but there's no reason to be late, and so they arrive early.

Elsewhere, two very different people are waking up.

"Rei, go make breakfast."

"No." It is not a reply, it is a statement.

The redhead glares down at her bedmate angrily. How dare she! After all her hard work, licking her out to one screaming orgasm after the next last night. Asuka conveniently forgets that the other girl more than returned the favor.

Rei gets up and dresses slowly. After a few seconds of sulking Asuka decides that eating might be the better part of valor and goes to make her own breakfast. Loudly.

The blue-haired girl ignores the redhead's banging and messing around the kitchen and eats her toast slowly and deliberately. She has been through worse - far worse. This is just part and parcel of living with Asuka.

They eat in silence. Eventually Asuka's mood improves (as Rei knows it would) and they get ready to leave.

They head for school together, the morning forgotten. Rei moves ever so slowly closer to the other pilot. Not that close, but close enough to take her hand...except that she doesn't. After all this time, she doesn't dare do that, for fear of provoking another outburst. But she sort of prefers it this way.

The other girl pretends not to notice. Were she honest with herself, Asuka would admit that yes, she sort of likes Rei coming closer, and perhaps would like her to take her hand as well...but if she were that honest, she wouldn't be Asuka.

The two walk the rest of the way in silence.

All four meet at the school gate and wave.

They meet for lunch, and then go their separate ways. Misato goes to NERV, though with the Angels gone it is more or less a glorified adminstrative center. There is not much to do, but she still works there, and so that is where she spends her time now.

The rest of them continue their day at school. There are whispers and rumors about the two female pilots, though one doesn't care and the other can't.

It is a normal day. Rei spends most of it staring out of the window as usual. Asuka kicks Shinji over a trivial matter. Some things never change.

The world is, for the most part, at peace. There is no more need for the EVA units, and so they have been decomissioned. No one knows where the Angels are now, or where they came from, or where they might have gone. It doesn't matter anymore.

"Ricchan, Ricchan! Over here!" The blond-haired scientist walks slowly over to where her friend is sitting. They sit in silence for a while, drinking their respective beverages.

"I see you've taken a leaf from Rei and Asuka's book." Misato teases, grinning over the rim of her cup.

Ritsuko, sipping her own, remains unfazed. "I've been with Maya since the 18th Angel."

"Is that so?" Misato tries to get a rise out of her friend.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is." To no avail.

The two woman stare at each other for a while. There has been so much between them in the past. Neither of them is really sure of where they stand now, in regards to each other, now that Kaji is gone. But maybe it's for the best that they don't know.

They chat a while, and then both leave.

The bell rings.

"I'll get it!" says Shinji, and he does. If he left it to Misato it would take ages.

The two girls have brought food and snacks and even some games. They all sit down for a relaxing evening together, something that would have been unthinkable years before. Whatever bonds that had been forged during the Angels constant attacks have been replaced (or maybe transformed into) an easy camaderie that all four quite enjoy.

They finish their food and talk (or rather, everyone but Rei talks) about inconsequential things. What's on TV. Who is going to do what to whom later. Who's going to do the dishes (Misato volunteers Shinji but the latter demurs and votes for Asuka, who kicks him again as Rei drinks quietly)

This happens about once a week, maybe twice. Sometimes they swap partners, but usually not. Asuka gets jealous easily and maintains that no one can make Rei come as well as she can. The blue-haired girl, out of wisdom or her typical silence, does not demur. The rest don't ask. They are happy with who they are with, and what they have become.

The days pass by and the cicadas come and go. Before they know it it has been a year since the last Angel attack.

Shinji doesn't mention Kaoru, and no one asks him about it. They figure that he will talk when he is ready.

The three techs leave NERV. There is almost nothing to do there now, and NERV itself is a mere shell of its former glory.

Neo Tokyo-3 itself is changing. The weapon buildings are coming down. There is talk of changing the entire city and geofront into something else together. A theme park, perhaps.

Winter comes, and Rei suggests (to everyone's amazement) that they all go to Hokkaido together.

They go and have a wonderful time. Everyone makes snowmen. They eat shabu-shabu and run down the slopes and make snow angels and generally have a great time.

They all sleep together because their kotatsu breaks down. Night is a tangle of limbs and moans and pleasure. Misato has a hangover the next morning, which comes as no surprise,  
but so does Shinji, which does.

On the second day they eat the local delicacies and visit all the sights and then go back to their ryokan. The second night is largely a repeat of the first, but this time it is Rei and Asuka who drink too much and pass out on the bed, flame-red and ice-blue hair forming a halo on pillows around each other.

They go and see the sunset together and all four link hands. It is a beautiful one, all cherry reds and brilliant gold. The evening light shines down on them and the pilots remember a long ago night where they lay on cold wet grass and spoke of the stars after a battle. It all seems so far away now.

NERV has been totally decomissioned.

Misato starts teaching at their school - Home Economics, of all things. She doesn't poison everyone on the first day, which everyone counts as a miracle. The students (especially the male ones) warm to her quickly and before long she is mobbed every day as she comes through the front gate. After a few near accidents with her adoring fans she also sells the car and takes the train. How things change.

The three ex-pilots take to meeting by the swimming pool and Rei stares out at the grassy hilltops as she has always done. Shinji and Asuka leave her alone and sometimes hold hands when they think she isn't looking. Whether or not she sees she doesn't mind. They eat lunch together too and somehow after some time Asuka doesn't even kick Shinji as much before. Rei talks now, sometimes, and once in a blue moon she actually interrupts.

There comes to be only one subject on everyone's mind - graduation. What will they do in a world without Angels, without Evangelions?

No one really knows. The three meet on the rooftop to discuss it. What paths will they take now that everything is over? Music? University? Going out to work - but what work would they even do? They have all never even thought about it before.

Graduation day comes and goes. The gowns and hats are worn and come off an hour later. Songs are sung and toasts are made. They have to stop Misato from having one too many beers but besides that, it's as smooth a ceremony as can be. Even Ritsuko and Maya show up, wearing matching dresses. Pictures are taken and everyone runs here and there, yelling, laughing,  
talking. It's a day to remember, that's for sure.

Time passes quickly and the four go on to their separate lives. Shinji has decided to study music at a nearby conservatory and Misato will follow him...ostensibly to keep house but more likely to have the house kept for her. Asuka has her eyes on a professorship in Germany. Rei wants to travel by herself for a while, and she says that she'll let them know when she's coming to stay.

The last time Shinji sees them, Rei is running down the road with a piece of toast in her mouth and Asuka is yelling at her to hurry up. Misato gooses him from behind and he yelps in not-so-surprised pleasure. A wind blows down the street and leaves fly everywhere, each a tiny memento of the past.

Day turns to night and night to day in an endless cycle. Somewhere, somewhen, the cicadas still chirp in Neo-Tokyo-3.

What happens next? Do they go on to have children? To go somewhere else? To start new lives together? Or have those new lives already been going on for some time...and this is just the next step in a new dance till tomorrow?

I don't know. Only Anno knows and he rarely tells anything. This is just one future of many. At least in this one everyone is as happy as I can make them - the true angels of my heart who have been with me for so long and so well.

It's been 18 years since I first watched Evangelion. And around 17 years since I first wrote EVA fanfiction. A lot has happened since then, as you can imagine. In many ways I'm a different person now - an adult, not a child or teenager any more. But in many ways I'm still the same, just older. Some things never change, and I think my love of EVA will continue until I die.

This is a farewell to my old self, to all those years of pain and joy both. I never thought I would ever write EVA fanfiction again but somehow I did, and well...it's like the world has turned upside down in the meantime. So much has happened, but there is one thing I know for certain - this is only one link in an unending chain of miracles.

If you like my writing, you can check out my homepage at and/or my collection of sci-fi and fantasy short stories at dp/B078GMNL9B


End file.
